With all the ICO buzz in the Blockchain sector, we dove into our Blockchain Technology report and research platform to examine how significant this new financing model has been. It comes as no surprise that we can conclude that the Blockchain Technology sector is experiencing a new financing paradigm.

This conclusion comes from two takeaways:

Funding amounts shifted dramatically to ICOs

Funding counts saw a drop in early-stage events with the emergence of ICOs

We’ll explain these takeaways with some graphics that show Blockchain Technology funding activity by round.

To help set the stage, the graphic below illustrates Blockchain Technology funding amounts over time. As you can see, the sector’s overall funding skyrocketed in the past few years. Additionally, Q1 2018 is the best Q1 on record.

Blockchain Technology Funding Amounts Shifted Dramatically to ICOs

We’ll start off by examining the annual Blockchain Technology funding amounts by round.

The above sector map organizes the Bitcoin/Blockchain Technology sector into 12 categories and shows a sampling of companies in each category.

Bitcoin Big Data: Companies that develop tools to review, parse, and analyze activity on the public ledger to increase transparency. Examples include monitoring wallets, advanced search filtering, and trend analysis.

Bitcoin Exchanges: Companies that allow users to buy and sell crypto-currencies, provide market analytics, and allow for the implementation of sophisticated trading strategies. Examples include simple consumer-oriented solutions, marketplaces to match buyers and sellers, and broker/dealers that make their own market and trade on their own inventory.

The above graph summarizes the average age and median age of companies in each Bitcoin/Blockchain category. The Bitcoin Infrastructure category is the most mature category with an average age of 4.5 years and a median age of 3.5 years. The Bitcoin Gambling and Bitcoin News categories comes in at second, with a average age of just under 4 years years and a median age of around 3.5 years.

We are currently tracking 865 Bitcoin/Blockchain companies in 12 categories across 73 countries, with a total of $1.8 Billion in funding. Click here to learn more about the full Bitcoin landscape report with dataset.

The above graph summarizes the total funding raised by Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology companies for each year. 2015 was the best year so far with almost $600M raised, 2016 is in second place with around $425M raised to date.

We are currently tracking 861 Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology companies in 12 categories across 73 countries, with a total of $1.7 Billion in funding. Click here to learn more about the full Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology landscape report with dataset.

The above graph summarizes the number of Bitcoin companies founded in a certain year. 2014 ranks as the top year with 132 companies founded, with 2013 coming in at second with 118 Bitcoin companies founded.

We are currently tracking 844 Bitcoin and Blockchain Technology companies in 12 categories across 72 countries, with a total of $1.7 Billion in funding. Click here to see the full Bitcoin landscape report and data.

The above sector map organizes the Bitcoin sector into the 12 categories listed below and shows a sampling of companies in each category.

Bitcoin Big Data: Companies that develop tools to review, parse, and analyze activity on the public ledger to increase transparency. Examples include monitoring wallets, advanced search filtering, and trend analysis.

Bitcoin Exchanges: Companies that allow users to buy and sell crypto-currencies, provide market analytics, and allow for the implementation of sophisticated trading strategies. Examples include simple consumer-oriented solutions, marketplaces to match buyers and sellers, and broker/dealers that make their own market and trade on their own inventory.

The above analysis summarizes the total amount of funding raised by the Bitcoin companies founded in a certain year. Bitcoin companies founded in 2013 have raised the most funding at $370M, with those founded in 2014 coming in at second place with $334M.

We are currently tracking 829 Bitcoin & Blockchain Technology companies in 12 categories across 72 countries, with a total of $1.6 Billion in funding. Click here to see the full Bitcoin & Blockchain Tehnology landscape report and data.

The above graph summarizes the number of Bitcoin & Blockchain Technology startups founded in a certain year. The year 2014 ranks as the top year with 132 Bitcoin & Blockchain Technology companies founded. 2013 is in second place with 113 Bitcoin & Blockchain Technology companies founded.

We are currently tracking 829 Bitcoin & Blockchain Technology companies in 12 categories across 72 countries, with a total of $1.6 Billion in funding. Click here to see the full Bitcoin & Blockchain Tehnology landscape report and data.